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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Dealing with People at Work

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From an email, a woman was having trouble with the behavior of her colleagues at work and the injustice she’s experiencing there. Her sister advised her to help others without expecting anything in return. One reason for this is to avoid being disappointed while still being "the light".

I think the sister is right. Be the light and eventually, the other people will come around. Even if they don’t, that shouldn’t affect you so much.

We have to decide beforehand the person we want to be. Once we’ve decided, no matter what others do, they will not change us. The best example of being the light is Jesus. In a room of darkness, just one light going on will eliminate the darkness in the room. We could be that light.

Even non-Christians have found this to be effective. One famous example is Gandhi. When injustices occur inflicted by people in the world, they will not change us. Needless to say, this is even more possible to do when we are connected to God.

I could only explain things from the perspective of a follower of Christ. However, even non-Christians can benefit from such a perspective (as certain teachers of "universal spirituality" have extracted teachings from Christ (Marianne Williamson and Oprah Winfrey to name two). But they took teachings from the teachings of Christ and of the Bible, without crediting them.

Again, it’s easier to do when having a connection with God.

Also, there’s another part to this. Jesus taught his disciples to be innocent as doves (or to be the light), but be as shrewd as snakes. (Matthew 10) We have to be on guard too. It’s finding the balance between being the light, while being on guard. As Jesus told us, “I am sending you like sheep among wolves.”

In summary, decide beforehand to be the person you want to be (to be like Christ, for me) and let not other people or their actions change that. Be the light (and it requires endurance), but also be shrewd (or on guard).

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